Thursday, January 12, 2012

I'm still running!!

Hi Mom, Dad, Kelli, Nathanael and
Savanna!

Wow!! I've made it through my first
move in Hong Kong! Can you believe it?!! That also means I'm not
the youngest of the babies (new missionaries) anymore! Wow!! I'm pleased
to say my first moves calls were thankfully uneventful. Sister C. and I
are still together, which we expected since I'm still a "baby" for
another move. She leaves to go home after this move. I also still have
my running buddy!! Sister K. and I
have been getting up at 6:40 a.m. to go running since neither of our companions want
to. I was so afraid she was going to leave just in time for the coldest
move!! Plus since Sister C. is leaving, we're probably going to get changed
out A LOT!!!I'm so glad I'll be able to
work out every day this move!!!

Questions:
1 - How are you enjoying the Hong Kong weather? The forecast always looks rather
nice, although, it looks like you are in for some rain this week.

It's really nice! Some days it
can be really cold, but it's not as cold as Illinois!! Sister K. and I usually
wear shorts and t-shirts running in the morning and we get lots of funny
looks.People say, "Dong mh
Dong?!!!!” (Are you cold?!!!) We
would get funny looks anyway… 2 5'9"
white girls in shorts and t-shirts running around speaking Chinese.
Running isn't as common here as it is in the US, so we stick out even
more. Although there are a lot more people out exercising in the mornings.
There are 2 old men always playing soccer at one of the soccer fields we
run around. There are usually 2 groups of popohs doing Tai Chi, or some
other types of dancing/stretching exercise. It's quite a site!!
Someday I want to join them... we'll see

2 - Do you have to do any sort of qualification process for your mission?

Yes, we have to do pass-offs.
That is, teach all of the lessons to our district leader, and then one of the
first 3 lessons and lesson 4 to our Zone leader. If we do that,
and "demonstrate ability to write pinyam, use correct sounds and tones,
and be an SYL missionary," we are a "Language Scholar."After that, we can move on to become a
"Langauge Master" by learning to read characters, and
scriptures. I've tried to pass of the first lesson twice already,
and haven't passed yet, but that's normal, especially with our district
leader. I'm hoping to try again this week. I'm hoping to
finish my pass-offs in the next two moves or so. We just got a new district
leader, and I am so excited to be able to do pass-offs for him because he's a native
and a really good teacher.I'm excited
to have his feedback on my teaching too.

3 - How many sister missionaries are in the mission? How many missionaries total?

I think 30 sisters and I don't know
how many elders.

4 - Nathanael asked about Chinese
New Year.

It is the week of January 24, and
apparently EVERYONE leaves!!! It's like Christmas is in the US. So
it's difficult to do missionary work that week. Not to worry, the mission
has provided.One day we get to go to
the temple, one day we get to see Big Buddah, another we will do deep cleaning,
and another day our ward has a hiking activity.The hike itself is 4-5 hours.Ward members are encouraged to bring friends so we can meet them (I'm so
excited for that!!!) Hahaha! I'm sure we'll still get to do some proselyting.
(I sure hope so!! That many days without
being able to do missionary work will drive us CRAZY!!!!) It will be fun
to have a change of pace.

This week we had to drop a lot of
our investigators because they won't answer their phones, or really don't have
interest. I'm learning what mh dak- a (Not free) and mouh hing cheui (Not
interested mean.) The other people we are teaching have tests at school,
left for mainland, or are busy for the New Year. It's been more difficult
to schedule lessons. But even though we didn't have as many lessons,
Heavenly Father is still doing miracles!!! We were able to
teach two lessons while we were out finding yesterday (That's exactly how many
we were hoping to be able to teach.) and Elder O. just called us this morning
to give us some numbers of ladies they've talked to this
week. In spite of some logistical challenges, the young woman who
got baptized last week was able to come to Sacrament meeting.She was late, but had barely sat down
when the Bishop called her up to the front to be confirmed. I was sooooo
happy!!! Plus I'm learning to talk to people and share the gospel
wherever we are. It's still super intimidating, but I'm doing better.

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Note from Barbara:

If you would like to send a short message to Kasey, post a comment to this blog and I will send your comments in next week’s email. To post a comment, click on the word "comment" at the bottom of each post. I will not be posting the comments to the blog, just sending them to Kasey. She would love to hear from you!